An insight into the world of films from a girl obsessed with jellyfish

Day 76 – Anonymous

You may have noticed that today I conquered the book of the day…or, if you didn’t know that, then I have indeed and therefore have been able to post a film today! The book near killed any brain cells I have left, but I don’t care. I did it. No more books to be read, and lots of writing to do. But that’s tomorrow’s story. For now, lets just get on with the film of the day.

Anonymous. The film is a re-look at who we know to be the greatest playwright of all time and questions whether or not that statement is true.

I saw this trailer in the cinema when I went to see the second Sherlock Holmes movie, and knew it was one that I had to see. As a drama student, I have read my fair share of Shakespeare (not as much as other drama students, but enough for my lifetime). I am not a fan of his work, so when I heard about the film that was going to show him as a fraud, I jumped at the chance.

And on that level, it did not disappoint.

In this film, Shakespeare is nothing more than a twat. Seriously. He whined. He slurred. He destroyed any idea I had of the man himself. Brilliant! I couldn’t stand the man, and so it makes it so much easier for me to hate him! I really doubt this story is the true story, but darn it I really want it to be! I really want Shakespeare to be an illiterate clown. You don’t know how much I do!

The story itself though was really not about him. Which made this film all the more wonderful. It was about an affair between Queen Elizabeth I and Edward de Vere. And the rebellion against the Cecil’s. And the struggles of Ben Jonson, another playwright. Shakespeare, funnily enough, was very rarely in the film. I love it!

To be honest, the story did bounce back and forth between times a little too much for me to understand. So, you know, I don’t really know how the story ended. Well. I do. But it makes no sense to me. Won’t ruin it though. But yeah, I found it hard to follow at times. But nonetheless, I liked it. I liked it very much.

The acting kind of varied in this film. You had the higher up people who were played fantastically by their actors. Rhys Ifans being the obvious person here, but the women playing the Elizabeth’s were equally amazing. But then you had Shakespeare and Jonson who were…ehhhhh. I mean, the guy made Shakespeare nice and hate-able, but I wouldn’t say it was a great performance. I don’t know…it bothered me that half of the people impressed me and half of them didn’t. But not that much.

I was also impressed at my knowledge of Shakespeare. Yeah, I won’t lie. I was sitting here, naming all of the plays that I remembered and nearly killed myself when Hamlet turned up. This was partially because I was into the film, but mainly because I wanted to show my mum how clever I am. I don’t often get to do that *sigh*. But anyway. The way they fit the plays into the film was very well done. They also seemed a lot more interesting than any, and I mean any, Shakespeare play that I’ve seen. As normal, I didn’t understand the language, but the presentation and effort and all that seemed a lot more compelling to me. So yeah. I like that.

Would I recommend this to people? Depends on who you are. If you’re a devotee to the work of Shakespeare, then I would run far far away. Your beloved master is made out a fool *bahahaha* and you will not like it. But if you really don’t give a damn and like the historical stuff that and want to see Shakespeare ‘The Twat’, then go grab your popcorn now.